1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a change lever in a transmission and more particularly to a mounting structure of a change lever in a vehicle constructed and arranged to absorb an allowance between a housing and a ball rotatively pivoting a lower end of the change lever to rule out generation of noise and to prevent leakage of lubricant coated on a frictional part located therebetween, thereby improving a lever-shifting feeling.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a vehicle is equipped with a transmission for changing a driving force generated from an engine to appropriately suit to a running state and the transmission is operated by manipulation of a change lever provided at a side of a driver. Particularly, a rod-type change lever mechanism in a vehicle mounted with a manual transmission is illustrated in FIG. 1.
In other words, a change lever 1 is mounted with a change lever knob 2 at an upper end thereof for a driver to hold and a hollow member extended lengthwise downwards, where a lower part of the change lever 1 covered with a dust cover 3 for preventing inroad of foreign objects is pivoted and rotatively fixed to the body of the vehicle.
At this time, the lower part of the change lever 1 centrally pierces a ball 4 via a pin 5 to thereafter be coupled to the ball 4. The ball 4 is supportively accommodated in a housing 6 to form an inner spherical space therein.
The housing 6 is opened at a top side thereof to accommodate the change lever 1 therein, and includes an upper member 6a formed with an inner circumferential surface to encompass an upper side of the ball 4 and a lower member 6b formed to encompass a lower part of the ball 4.
Furthermore, the change lever 1 is disposed via a ball joint 7a with a shift rod 7 for transmitting an operation direction of the change lever 1 to a transmission to enable changing speed. The housing 6 is arranged at a front side thereof with an extension bar 8 for preventing the so-called Gear Jump Out state, where meshing among teeths in the transmission is released while a sudden change of inertia such as sudden acceleration occurs.
Between the ball 4 fixed via the pin 5 to a lower end of the change lever 1 and the housing 6 for accommodating the ball 4 therein there is coated grease as lubricant to reduce friction which occurs therebetween during changing speed.
When a driver holds the change lever knob 2 to manipulate the change lever 1 back and forth, a manipulating force thereof is transmitted to a transmission via the shift rod 7 to get the vehicle shifted in gears.
However, there is a problem in the conventional change lever 1 thus constructed in that, when there occurs an allowance between the ball 4 and the housing 6 encompassing and supporting the ball 4, an intermittent contact is generated between the ball 4 and the housing 6 due to vibration of the body generated by the operation of the engine to thereby generate noise between the ball 4 and the housing 6.
There is another problem in that lubricant coated for reduction of friction between the ball 4 and the housing 6 drips down along a gap generated therebetween due to repeated manipulation of lever shifting, causing decrease of the lubricant and deteriorated shifting feel to the driver during change lever shifting.